- The Tab

Although Earth was my present home, I was an inmate of a different planet. And the people in the planet I was born slept very less. But after moving to earth we got accustomed to the earthly habits which we could break off from anytime we wanted. This again we had to do to avoid any suspicion that we were not from this planet.

But I strongly felt that due to inadequate food and stress and may be even that grey powder which Ethan was adding to the soup, I was feeling extremely tired most of time and would always doze off to sleep.Now is the time to break my earthly sleeping pattern .

As my head hurt and the throbbing sensation continued on my forehead I could not focus on anything. I quickly set an alarm to sleep for 3.5 hours in my phone, set the alarm tone for low volume and laid down on the cot. I had the ability to wake up when I wanted which I had tried while at home especially during the time of assessments at school. But as the throbbing increased I knew that there were chances that I would go into deep sleep. And to make sure that I get up within the stipulated time I had planned , even if I was in deep sleep I thought it's best to set the alarm just in case.

I slowly started the healing energy to my third eye chakra and went of to deep sleep. When the alarm finally rang I opened my eyes and I felt my head ache gone. I quickly got up and then I felt a little hungry. I walked to the kitchen counter and ate the rest of the soup. After my request for additional food, there was always additional soup.I cleaned the soup bowl in the corner dark sink, put the bowl back on the counter, and then walked back to the cot.

I switched on the phone , opened the notepad app and made a note of an approximate time when Ethan was here the last time. Also I had to make a note of my sleep time so that I knew exactly what was the best time to sleep. I quickly made a note of this as well. All I hoped was Ethan came at set time or set intervals , that way I could ensure to be alert and would not give Ethan an opportunity for any mistakes.

I planned to charge the phone only after Ethans visit and once after he left. That way he would not catch me charging my phone. I quickly switched off my phone and dropped it in the pocket. I now turned on the tab and waited for it to load. Thankfully the charge was intact this time. I uttered Index , Index , Index thrice and I could see index being displayed on the screen.

Looked like Ethan had ensured to set to English mode. There were lot of topics but I wanted to look at the search option which I couldn't find. I tried to use my fingers like how I used to scroll on my phone, to scroll down the index on the tab , but it would not scroll. I was getting frustrated by the minute. Why had everything to be so weird? I could see the scroll bar, why would it not scroll?

I took a deep breath, calmed my mind . I had uttered the word Index thrice. May be the device works on instructions directly given to it. Probably this did not want touch to be used. I uttered scroll, scroll , scroll. Nothing happened. Now it was getting stranger. Looked like I had to really struggle to use this device. I then thought,should I wait till Ethan came. But then I'll be loosing out on time. I wanted to make the best use of time.

I was thinking out loud and uttered "How do i scroll ?" and suddenly I see some flickering on the screen. I again said scroll and I see the index starting to scroll up and then down and it would not stop. It looked like it's gone to an infinite loop with the scrolling going up and down I just said "STOP" and it stopped. I could feel beads of sweat appearing on the forehead and my breathing becoming irregular.

I thought the device was broken as I may have given the wrong command. I knew this device was my only hope to get out and I didn't want to take any chance of destroying it by giving wrong commands. I then slowly tried saying, "scroll down". And the index seemed to scroll down a page and stop. Ok now I get how it works.

I still could not find the search option I was looking for. I again said "scroll down". No search option again. I tried a few times but I could not see the search option at all. The index seemed to contain infinite amount of topics. That way I guess it would be hard to even search for a topic within the index . I did not know how long it would take me to find the search option or even for that matter any topic as the index seemed to span infinite number of topics. This was crazy. I should have asked Ethan while he was here the last time around but he was in a rush to leave.

I tried one last time. "Scroll bottom" and then I could see a flash and the index scrolling down at top speed. I held my breath. It went on for 10 mins. Even if the device broke Ethan could not blame me as he had not even given the basic instructions. Or did he have any hidden agenda ? After what he did to me, I was no where in a situation to trust him. I crossed my fingers and silently prayed to god that the scrolling would stop. The scrolling finally stopped and I finally could see the search option as the last record in the index. I sighed.

I quickly uttered search. Now nothing worked again. I again uttered search thrice and finally it popped up. So basically I had to try various permutations and combinations of commands for it to work. I somehow felt a little confident that i could manage to use the tab.

I suddenly heard some rustling sound outside. Was Ethan back so soon? I switched off the tab quickly and stayed quite for 10 mins holding my breath. Then the sound died down after few mins. Must have been some beast. I again switched on the tab and with its light I looked around and found the window door a little ajar.

" When did this happen? "

I did not want to let my thoughts run wild on trying to identify why the window was open. That was not significant for me right now and I did not have all the time in the world to investigate the mystery of an open window.

My only aim now was to get all the information out. I had to avoid all distractions and any lurking danger , so that I could concentrate. I slowly got up continuing to hold my breath and slowly tip toed towards the window. I knelt down and slowly traced my fingers on the inscription to close the window. I again re-checked to confirm if the window was closed securely enough.

Once I was satisfied I went back to the cot. I again looked at the tab and could nowhere see the search screen loaded. It must have got closed while I switched off the tab. Now I knew the steps to follow until the search option and I quickly repeated all the instructions till the search page flashed on the screen.

I just uttered "Current location ? " to the search and I could see the question getting auto typed on the text field. I was waiting for the results, again nothing seemed to happen. Then I tried saying "Search" and then the screen flashed few rows of search results.

What I saw gave me a JOLT !!!

To be continued in the next chapter :)